


Pure & Simple.

by thesameoldfairytale



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Dinner, F/F, F/M, Holidays, M/M, Unexpected Visitors, Yuri loves Christmas, the others not so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 08:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17200367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesameoldfairytale/pseuds/thesameoldfairytale
Summary: Yuri had thought he would be spending Christmas alone taking care of Victor and Yuuri's dog Makkachin while they were away. For better or for worse, things just don't always go as planned, much to Yuri's surprise.





	Pure & Simple.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AJ_Vincent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJ_Vincent/gifts).



> Hola everyone and happy holidays! :) This little Christmas themed fic is my Secret Santa gift for [AJ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJ_Vincent)! I'm so, so sorry your gift is late. The fact that you had no preference in terms of pairings was a blessing and a curse at the same time. Haha! ;) I still have my fingers crossed that you'll enjoy this little holiday fic. I hope you had a lovely time over Christmas! x

Truth be told, Christmas had never been a huge deal to Yuri. Not because he didn’t like the holiday or because he had no time for it, but rather because he just never had a chance to actually celebrate it. Neither his grandpa, nor Lilia, Yakov or Victor were big on Christmas themselves. 

Now at twenty-one years old, Yuri was destined to spend another Christmas on his own. Well, technically Christmas wasn’t until January for him and his fellow countrymen, but he wasn’t religious at all and he had always been more drawn to a traditional Western Christmas. He had travelled across Spain, Germany, Italy and so many other European countries over the years. There was something magical about how other countries celebrated Christmas in December that had fascinated him from a very young age, from the markets to the food and the decorations. 

Christmas Eve this year wasn’t anything special though. Yuri got up shortly after dawn, about to drag his tired limbs through the Saint Petersburg snow to the rink. Mila had gone to Italy to spend the holidays with Sara. Yuuri and Victor went to Australia for Victor’s birthday, and Georgi had gone to stay with Anya’s family in Moscow. And Otabek, well, Otabek didn’t celebrate Christmas, so he was probably using his time off to train. Yakov and Lilia for their part spent their holidays somewhere in France. Yuri hadn’t cared enough about it to actually listen to Lilia tell him about their trip. Thankfully, Yakov had permitted Yuri to use the rink while they were away. It wasn’t as if he had anything better to do, so he might as well use all this time wisely to practice his routines. Worlds was only a couple of months away anyway. 

“I’ll be back soon,” he cooed to Potya as he made his way outside into the unrelenting cold. 

It had taken Yuri a couple of hours to actually get up and ready. By the time he closed the apartment door behind him, it was already light outside but still way too cold for his liking. People always thought that figure skaters should be used to the cold with constantly being on the ice and all, but Yuri hated it. He had spend some amazing summers with Otabek in Almaty. If it was up to him, it would always be sunny and hot outside, all year round.

Yuri entered the rink through the back entrance, the frozen key almost slipping out of his hand. He still wondered why Yakov trusted him with the keys whenever he was away but he didn’t necessarily question it more than he absolutely had to. 

Locking the door behind him, Yuri made his way to the locker rooms out of habit more than anything else. He dropped his bag on one of the many benches and took off his coat, scarf and hat. First putting on his training clothes, he carefully folded his street clothes next, another thing he did purely out of habit. 

When Yuri opened his locker to safely put away all his stuff, he was surprised to find an envelope addressed to him inside the locker. His things momentarily forgotten, he opened the envelope to find a Christmas card inside signed by all his closest current and ex-teammates including Yuuri.

 

* * * * * 

_ Happy holidays, Yurio! _

_ We hope you have a fantastic few days on your own. Use the time wisely. We’ll all be back before you know it.  _

_ Lots of love, _

_ Victor + Yuuri, Yakov + Lilia, Mila & Georgi _

_ PS: Please don’t forget to walk Makkachin at least once a day. He’ll be lonely without you.  _

_ * * * * * _

 

Trying very hard not to roll his eyes, Yuri could only shake his head at that last reminder. He was spending most of his time at Victor and Yuuri’s place anyway because of Makkachin. Potya could spend a whole day without him as long as he was there to feed her in the morning and in the evening. Makkachin on the other hand, not so much. It wasn’t the first time he took care of that gigantic dog.

A miracle would have to happen for Yuri to ever admit it out loud but he really appreciated the sentiment the card came along with. He normally didn’t mind spending time on his own but the holidays were tricky for him. Ever since his grandad had moved into a retirement home and met an admittedly lovely lady called Alisa, Yuri felt a little more lonely on holidays he didn’t get to spend with Nikolai. He was happy for him, no doubt, but it was still tough on Yuri.

Attempting to distract himself for at least a little while, Yuri put all of his things inside his locker, placing the Christmas card carefully on top of it all. He grabbed his skates and made his way to the ice, spending a couple of hours on there, undisturbed and in his own little world.

The music from the speakers was still ringing in Yuri’s ears by the time he decided to head out to get Makkachin. He spent most of his time at Victor and Yuuri’s place when they were away, so he figured he could just shower there instead of the communal showers in the locker rooms. Grabbing his bag, he quickly made his way to their apartment which wasn’t too far from the rink thankfully.

Even though it was freezing outside, Yuri was still sweating by the time he greeted Makkachin. Feeding the spit machine first, he hurried to get undressed. The hot water almost lulled Yuri to sleep right there in the shower. Before that could happen, he forced himself to turn the water off and get dressed again. Makkachin was probably already waiting for him outside the bathroom door, which she was, of course. 

Yuri briefly ruffled her curly fur before dragging his exhausted feet to the guest room that he had occupied for the time being. Getting dressed and bundled up once more, he called for Makkachin who instantly came running to his side. Yuri put the leash on her which wasn’t the easiest task to do. She was acting like a little puppy whenever someone took her outside, even despite her old age.

The second Yuri left the building with her, he wondered if he was walking Makkachin or if she was walking him. She was pulling on the leash so much that Yuri eventually gave up when they reached the park. It was early afternoon on Christmas Eve and also snowing by now. Barely anyone was as crazy as Yuri to leave their cozy apartments and houses. He took the leash off of Makkachin who instantly ran around sniffing anything and everything. Yuri wasn’t a dog person by any means, their personalities being the complete opposite of his own, but he had to admit that Makkachin was a gorgeous and tolerable dog. She wasn’t as sassy as Potya which was a nice change once in a while.

Yuri grinned at that thought when he bent down to grab a little branch that the weight of the snow had caused to snap off of a tree. He threw it as far and as often as he could for Makkachin to catch until they both grew tired of the game. They slowly made their way through the park, Makkachin running around the snow and chasing the occasional squirrel that was brave enough to get in her way. 

Once they reached the other side of the park, Yuri remembered that his favourite pizza place was just around the corner. He called for Makkachin and put the leash back on her, which she only reluctantly allowed. While they headed over to the pizza place, Yuri already mentally decided to order a pepperoni pizza just to be able to give Makkachin the pepperoni. Victor would hate it but that was the whole point of Yuri spoiling her.

The pizza in one hand, Makkachin’s leash in the other, they walked back to Victor and Yuuri’s apartment as fast as they could. Microwaved pizza just wasn’t the same, so Yuri didn’t want it to get cold. 

By the time they reached the apartment door and Yuri wanted to unlock it, he noticed how the door wasn’t locked in the first place. He was sure he didn’t just close the door but actually locked it as well, however, it appeared that he didn’t do that.

Still doubting himself, Yuri opened the door and grabbed the towel he placed by the wardrobe in the hall before he had left. He quickly dried Makkachin’s thick fur as best as he could before he took his own boots off and put his coat, scarf and hat on the coat rack.

Just then did Yuri notice that something smelled funny. The scent of food was hanging in the air and it certainly wasn’t the pizza he had brought home. He cautiously made his way further into the apartment while Makkachin was already running off. She was barking loudly but it didn’t sound threatening or angry, she sounded happy which confused Yuri even more.

He opened the door to the huge living room, the smell of food cooking drifting over from the open kitchen. Yuri was stunned at what or more precisely who he found there.

“Yuri Plisetsky,” Lilia said sternly as she passed by him and ripped the greasy pizza out of his hands. “For your sake, I hope you weren’t planning on actually eating that.” She walked away from him and threw the hot pizza away before Yuri could even say anything in response. 

Stunned by what was going on, Yuri had a look around. Yakov and Georgi were sitting on the biggest sofa in the room watching what appeared to be a recording of the Grand Prix Final from two years ago if Yuri remembered correctly. Mila was setting the enormous dining table, waving when she noticed Yuri. 

“Care to give me a hand?” she asked, seemingly not willing to explain to Yuri what they were all doing there either. 

Still too irritated to say anything, Yuri grabbed the stack of plates and spread them out on the table, setting one on each place mat. 

“Oh, Yurio,” Victor suddenly exclaimed behind him, “Merry Christmas.”

He was carrying two large bowls, one filled with boiled potatoes, the other with what appeared to be cooked red cabbage. “Could you give Yuuri a hand with the other dishes?”

Even Victor’s normally incredibly annoying heart-shaped smile couldn’t get Yuri to make any sense of what they were all doing home all of a sudden.

Slowly backing out of the dining room, Yuri walked over to the open door of the kitchen. Inside it he found Yuuri dressed in one hell of an ugly Christmas themed apron that he finally did manage to react to all this chaos, even if it was just with an eye roll.

“Katsudon, what the f-” he said, Yuuri instantly looked up at him, before Lilia interrupted and scolded him immediately. 

“Alright, alright,” Yuri said, “I’m sorry.” 

Lilia nodded in acknowledgement before she continued carrying all sorts of different dishes out to the dining room.

Yuri made his way to Yuuri’s side. He leaned back against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms over his chest. “Care to explain why the heck you’re all back from your holidays?”

“No reason,” Yuuri said, not letting himself get distracted from stirring what looked like some rich red wine sauce to go with some sort of dark meat that was still in the oven. The smile on his face was so obvious that Yuri didn’t even try to get more out of him because he knew it wasn’t going to work anyway.

He sighed and just asked, “Can I help?”

Now it seemed like Yuuri was the one who was surprised and Yuri couldn’t even blame him. It wasn’t every day that he offered to help with… well, anything really.

“Yes, you can,” Victor said as he came back into the kitchen. “Put these glasses on the table, will you?”

He indicated a few stacked glasses over on the kitchen table, ten to be exact, and Yuri briefly wondered why there were so many but he didn’t think about it long enough to actually care.

Placing the last glass on the dining room table, the doorbell suddenly rang.

“Could you get that, please?” Yuuri asked when he carried in a huge saucier filled to the brim. 

Yuri was at a point where he didn’t think it was worth questioning anything anymore. He couldn’t think of anyone who was missing but he made his way over to apartment door nevertheless. Who he found behind it almost squeezed all the air out of his lungs.

“Grandpa!” Yuri said a lot louder than he had to. He surged forward and almost jumped on his old grandfather. Even if he wanted to, he had no way of explaining of how happy he was to see Nikolai.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, not letting go of his grandfather.

“You didn’t really think you were spending Christmas on your own, did you?” Nikolai said, laughing pretty much like Santa Clause probably would. 

Yuri could have cried right there and then. He always thought that no one but him really cared about Christmas the way he did, but even if they didn’t, it seemed like they at least cared about him.

“Yuratchka,” Nikolai said when Yuri finally let go of him again. “I want you to meet someone.”

He stepped aside to reveal a tiny elderly lady with faded grey hair and a lovely and warm smile gracing her round face. “This is Alisa,” Nikolai said. 

“It is so nice to finally meet you, Yuri,” Alisa said. She reached out to shake Yuri’s hand but much to his own surprise, Yuri went in to hug her instead. 

When he let go of her again, he knew he was blushing. He could feel his cheeks getting hot and Nikolai giggling next to him didn’t help. “Thanks for taking care of my grandpa,” Yuri said, a genuine smile curling around the corners of his lips as well. 

Yuri had only talked to Alisa on the phone twice, everything else he knew about her Nikolai had told him, but she cemented the very first impression Yuri had gotten of her the first time he had spoken to her. She was good for Nikolai and that was all he really cared about. 

“It is my pleasure,” Alisa said when Nikolai wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side.

Yuri rewarded her with another one of his rare smiles before he took their coates and invited them inside. 

The three of them fell into an easy conversation and once Yuri had introduced Alisa to everyone, they all sat down at the table. No one made a huge speech or anything, they all just dug in and enjoyed an amazing Christmas dinner together.

Yakov and Nikolai soon discussed all sorts of different topics while Alisa and Lilia surprisingly got along very well, despite having entirely different personalities. By the time Victor and Yuuri cleared the table again, Yuri began to wonder who the last place setting was for.

He went into the kitchen only to find Victor pressing a quick kiss to Yuuri’s already wine-soaked lips as they put as many dirty dishes in the dishwasher as possible. It wasn’t fun to watch those two be so in love but Yuri had to say something anyway.

“Thank you,” he mumbled quietly while he put his own plate away, “for doing this.”

“It’s our pleasure,” Yuuri replied with a huge happy grin on his face. 

“We knew we wouldn’t be able to enjoy Australia knowing you were here on your own,” Victor said casually. “Besides, I missed Makkachin.”

Yuri threw a tea towel at him which only made Victor laugh loudly. 

“Anyway,” Yuri said, “who was the empty place setting for?”

“Oh,” Yuuri said instantly. “That was for-” He got interrupted by the doorbell. “Just check who is at the door.”

The stupid grin on his face made Yuri suspicious but he walked back over to the front door yet again. Opening the door, he could barely believe who was hiding behind it.

“Merry Christmas, Yura,” Otabek said, holding a giant teddy bear out in front of him.

“Beka,” Yuri said, unable to form any other words because even after finding everyone else suddenly back in this apartment, he definitely hadn’t expected to see Otabek on Christmas. “What are you doing here?” he asked, before he said, “Nevermind. I couldn’t care less.”

He dropped the teddy bear to the side and engulfed Otabek in a bone crushing hug. He was crying then, he knew it but he just didn’t mind. Yuri felt the tears rushing down his cheeks, saw them drop down onto the black leather of Otabek’s jacket.

Otabek returned the hug just as intensely as Yuri did. They spent what appeared to be a lifetime just standing there, holding and breathing each other in.

When Yuri reluctantly pulled back, Otabek didn’t let go of him completely. He still rested one arm around Yuri’s waist, the other hand reaching up to dry the leftover tears on his blushing cheeks.

“Crying tears of joy, huh?” Otabek teased him. “I’m flattered.”

Yuri playfully slapped his arm before he forced himself to finally let go of Otabek. “Asshole,” he mumbled but couldn’t wipe the grin off of his face.

“Will you two love birds get your sweet little-” 

“Victor!” Yuuri shouted, scolding his husband before Victor could finish whatever he was about to say. “Just get in here, Yuri, and no shoes inside the apartment, Otabek.”

Yuri and Otabek were both blushing from the tips of their ears probably down to their little toes at the love birds comment Victor made, but when Yuuri whipped out his parenting voice, they both burst out laughing.

“Sorry,” Yuri huffed but blushed again in an instant when Otabek’s warm, chocolate brown eyes were staring down at him lovingly. It wasn’t like anything had happened between them in the past but Yuri was convinced that Otabek had noticed the slight changes in their friendship as well. Things were still as easy as they had been from the very beginning but Yuri knew they both wanted something more out of their friendship. They were both just too chicken to actually do something about it. When the time was right, Yuri was determined to make a move, whenever that would be.   
  
“Don’t worry about it,” Otabek said, nodding forward to indicate for Yuri to head back inside the apartment.

Once they were all settled around the dining room table, Victor eventually did get up to give a speech. Yuri sighed deeply, getting told off for doing so by his grandpa but when Otabek put his arm on the back of his chair behind him, Yuri quickly forgot about it. His cheeks were tinged in a lovely shade of pink. Thankfully no one seemed to notice, at least no one said anything to tease him.

“Well,” Victor said, standing and picking up his glass of wine from the table, “I just wanted to thank you all for joining us here today. I know none of you are very big on celebrating Christmas. At least not in December that is, right?” Victor put his hand on the back of Yuuri’s chair and leaned into his husband a little bit. “If it weren’t for Yurio I’m sure none of us would be here right now celebrating, so thank you, Yurio, for bringing us all together.”

Yuri wanted to be annoyed at Victor for being so mushy but he couldn’t bring himself to be angry. He had Nikolai sitting on his right, being there with someone who made his grandpa believe in love again and then there was Otabek on his left side, the one man he thought he could love himself one day. When Otabek leaned over to press a kiss to his temple, Yuri couldn’t even be bothered to be embarrassed. He was so happy that he placed his warm hand on Otabek’s thigh and leaned into the touch. 

It was this one moment that made him realise he was spending the holidays with all the people that were the most important to him, so if that meant tolerating Victor being all sentimental, he would happily sit through another hundred of these dinners. It was that simple.


End file.
